May 5, 2025 • 26 mins
In this powerful sermon on Hebrews 11:1–40, Associate Pastor Benjamin Kandt walks us through the “Hall of Faith,” highlighting how the entire chapter points to a life marked by trust in the unseen promises of God. From Abel to Abraham, Moses to Rahab, the author of Hebrews paints a picture of faith that is forward-looking, resilient, and rooted in God’s character — not in immediate outcomes. Pastor Benjamin unpacks the nature of biblical faith: a confidence in what we hope for and a conviction of things not seen.
He reminds the church that faith isn't reserved for the extraordinary, but is the daily posture of those who take God at His word. Even those who suffered and never received the promises in their lifetime are held up as heroes because they lived with eyes fixed on a better country — a heavenly one. This sermon challenges and encourages us to live faithfully in the present as we await the fullness of what God has promised in Christ.
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Episode Transcript
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Damein Schitter (00:06):
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damein.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, Orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Good morning.
Joshua Esquivel (00:23):
Please join me, God of mercy.
The covenant promises in youreternal word do not change.
Holy Spirit, enable us torespond to your gracious
promises with faithful andobedient hearts Through Jesus
Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
(00:43):
Our scripture today comes fromHebrews 11, 1 through 3, 32 to
the 40.
Now, faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen, for by itthe people of old received their
commendation.
By faith, we understand that theuniverse was created by the
(01:05):
word of God, so that what isseen was not made out of things
that are visible.
And what more shall I say Fortime would fail me to tell of
Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthahand David and Samuel and the
prophets who, through faith,conquered kingdoms, enforced
(01:28):
justice, obtained promises,stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the power of fire,escaped the edge of the sword,
were made strong out of aweakness, became mighty in war,
put foreign armies to flight.
Women received back their deadby resurrection.
Some were tortured, refusing toaccept release so that they
(01:52):
might rise again to a betterlife.
Others suffered mocking andflogging and even chains and
imprisonment.
They were stoned, they weresawn in two, they were killed
with the sword.
They went about in skins ofsheep and goats, destitute,
afflicted, mistreated, of whomthe world was not worthy,
(02:16):
wandering about in deserts andmountains and in dens and caves
of the earth.
And all these, though, come inthrough their faith, did not
receive what was promised, sinceGod had provided something
better for us that, apart fromus, they should not be made
perfect.
This is God's word.
Benjamin Kandt (02:36):
Thanks be to God , you may be seated.
General Charles Gordon was alegendary British commander in
the 19th century.
Winston Churchill described himlike this said he is a man
careless alike of the frowns ofmen or the smiles of women, of
(02:58):
life or comfort, wealth or fame.
How was he so free from thefear of man?
Well, there's this storyactually Once he was on a
peacemaking mission and GeneralGordon was held prisoner by the
King of Abyssinia and the Kingsaid to him like this do you
know, gordon, that I could killyou on the spot if I liked?
To which Gordon replied I'mperfectly well aware of it.
(03:21):
Your majesty, do so at once.
If it is your royal pleasure, Iam ready.
The king said wait, ready to bekilled?
He said certainly, I'm alwaysready to die.
Then my power has no terrorsfor you.
Gordon replied none whatsoever.
And the king left the roomamazed how did he have freedom
(03:42):
from the fear of death?
After Gordon's death during thesiege of Khartoum, his friend
John Bonar wrote about him andsaid this what always struck me
was the way in which Gordon'soneness with God ruled all his
actions.
I love that language.
Gordon's oneness with God ruledall his actions and his mode of
seeing things.
I never knew one who seemed somuch to endure as seeing him who
(04:05):
is invisible.
That's how.
That's how he did it and that'sa direct quote, actually, from
Hebrews 11, 27, our text.
This morning and last week wesaw that the object of our faith
is far more important than thestrength of our faith.
But this week I want to seethat the strength of our faith
does matter.
I quoted DL Moody last weeksaying that a little faith will
(04:27):
bring your soul to heaven, but alot of faith will bring heaven
to your soul.
So how do we do that?
How do we get heaven in oursoul?
How do we strengthen our faith?
That's the question I'm reallyasking, and I've got one point
which is the answer, which isthat faith feeds on the
knowledge of God.
Faith that faith feeds on theknowledge of God.
Faith feeds on the knowledge ofGod If you walk away with one
thing.
That's what I want you to have.
(04:47):
Faith feeds on the knowledge ofGod.
If you have a Bible or a device,go ahead and open to Hebrews 11
.
You have the worship guide.
It's here as well, but I'mgonna go back a little bit into
the text so we can look at thewhole scope of this chapter.
In Hebrews 11, verse 32, itsays this and what more shall I
say?
I'm gonna pause there.
(05:09):
Hebrews was likely a sermon thatwas written down.
That's what I think it was.
And so this is a preacher andhe's like, hey, what more shall
I say?
And he's about to go on andrecap everything he's been
saying.
But up to this point the authorhas spent verses three through
31 proving his point that faithis this conviction, this
insurance of the things hopedfor and the conviction of things
(05:29):
not yet seen.
So he spent the whole chaptertrying to prove that, to show
that, and in order to do that,he shows it from the lives of
Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham,Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
Moses and Rahab, and how theywere all commended for this
faith.
(05:51):
Faith shows up in this chapter24 times in the Greek text, and
so faith is clearly thissignificant piece, and I want to
just kind of backtrack a littlebit in the passage and do a
flyover of this, what's beencalled the hall of faith.
Look with me at verse 11.
I'm sorry, hebrews 11, verseeight.
It says this by faith, abrahamobeyed when he was called to go
out to a place that he was toreceive as an inheritance and he
went out not knowing where hewas going.
(06:13):
You see, faith requires risk.
Abraham left everything behindat the call of God.
That's what happens in thistext here.
And so listen, if you wantadventure, faith will invite you
to live on the redemptive edge.
If what you're after isexcitement and adventure in life
, live by faith, you'll get it.
I promise you that.
(06:33):
Andy Crouch says that whathappens is that people have to
risk a lot to be successful inbusiness, but once they get
successful, they're tempted tode-risk.
But once they get successful,they're tempted to de-risk.
And he actually says that thatmakes sense.
But really, if you wannasacrificially bless others, you
actually have to re-risk.
You've gotta sign up again torisk in a new way.
(06:56):
Why would you do that?
Why would anybody re-risk?
Because by faith we know thatGod brings creative restoration
through sacrifice.
You see, in this situation,abraham was about 75 years old.
He's about to sail off into hissunset years.
He's probably going to retireand get a place on the coast of
the Gulf of America and as he'sdoing that, rather than de-risk,
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he risks everything at the callof God, everything at the call
of God, everything.
At the call of God, he went outnot knowing where he was going
and he became the father offaith.
The text goes on.
I'm sorry, paul the apostle, inanother passage in Romans 4, he
talks about Abraham and this iswhat he says about him.
He says no unbelief made himwaver concerning the promise of
(07:43):
God.
To which I reply, paul, haveyou read about Ishmael?
You know that guy Hagar Seemslike there was some wavering
here.
We'll get to that in a moment.
No unbelief made him waverconcerning the promise of God,
but he grew strong in his faithas he gave glory to God, fully
convinced that God was able todo what he had promised.
You see, faith feeds on theknowledge of God.
(08:04):
So how do we grow strong in ourfaith?
According to this passage, wegive glory to God.
That's how we do it.
Now I want to break that down alittle bit.
If faith feeds on the knowledgeof God, praise and thanks,
acknowledge God for who he isand what he's done.
That's what I think this is so.
Said differently to acknowledgesomething is to show one's
knowledge of it.
That's what I think this is so.
Said differently to acknowledgesomething is to show one's
(08:26):
knowledge of it.
That's what that means, and Iwanna just submit to you that we
believe little because wepraise little.
Our trust is low because ourthanks is low.
But what Abraham's life showsus is that as we receive the
knowledge of God who he is andwhat he does and as we respond
to that knowledge by givingpraise to God for who he is and
(08:47):
thanks to God for what he does,faith grows, it's strengthened.
That's what just happened herein the first half of this
worship service.
I love sitting in the frontbecause I can hear you all.
I can hear your voices.
This is the voice, this is thesound of those who love you.
Right, and I can hear that.
And faith grows, it strengthensthat way.
(09:07):
And so as we give glory to God,fully convinced that he's able
to do what he said he can do,our faith is strengthened, it
grows in that regard.
But it's not always a successstory.
Look at Hebrews 11, 13.
It says this Look at Hebrews 11, 13.
It says this these all now thisis referring to Abraham, sarah,
isaac, jacob these all died infaith.
(09:30):
Not having received the thingspromised, these all died.
Is this a tragedy?
No, but it is biblical realism,and that matters, because, no
matter how good your life gets,you will not receive the full
benefits of your faith here andnow.
There was a book that was on theNew York Times bestselling list
for a couple years, called yourBest Life Now, and here's the
(09:54):
thing if you have your best lifenow, that implies you're going
to hell.
That's a big deal, okay, and sowhat that means, though, is
that, if you belong to Jesus,the best is yet to come.
You haven't fully realized allthat God has in store for you
yet, and that's how they act Inverse 13,.
It says they were strangers andexiles on the earth.
(10:15):
Listen, when you become aChristian, when you become a
believer in Jesus and you putyour faith in him, you become a
stranger and an exile on earth.
The world doesn't know youanymore.
It doesn't think like you, actlike you value the things that
you value anymore, so you becomea stranger and an exile here.
This is why, listen, faithoften feels like homesickness,
(10:39):
like you know.
You're doing it right if youfeel homesick from time to time.
This is the way CS Lewis said itthe settled happiness and
security which we all desire,god withholds from us, by the
very nature of the world, butjoy and pleasure and merriment
he has scattered abroad.
You see, the security we cravewould teach our hearts to rest
(11:00):
in this world and it would posean obstacle to our return to God
.
Our Father refreshes us on thejourney with some pleasant ends,
but will not encourage us tomistake them for home.
Verse 14 says for people whospeak thus, like CS Lewis just
spoke, people who speak thusmake it clear that they are
(11:20):
seeking a homeland.
If they had been thinking ofthat land from which they had
gone out, then they would haveopportunity to return.
But as it is, they desire abetter country.
That is a heavenly one.
You see, many of us here desirea better country.
Don't you Like?
In your peak moments, you'reaware of how fleeting that
(11:41):
moment really is?
Don't you desire a bettercountry?
In your valley moments, you'reaware of how fleeting that
moment really is?
Don't you desire a bettercountry In your valley moments?
You're aware of how painfulthose moments really are?
Don't you desire a bettercountry?
This is what it says in verse 16.
Therefore, god is not ashamed.
He's not ashamed to be calledtheir God, for he has prepared
for them a city.
You see, faith feels likehomesickness, but it's also a
(12:03):
coming home.
Faith feels like homesickness,but it's also a coming home.
Faith feels like homesickness,but it's a faith that feeds on
the knowledge that God is notashamed to be called our God.
Another way to say that is isthat faith is coming home to a
father who loves you even whenhe's not impressed with you.
That's what faith feels like.
It's this coming home, and homeis this place where we don't
deserve it or earn it.
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It's just a place of safety andjoy.
It's a place where, while faithis a risk, it's also a refuge.
It's coming into a safe harbor.
It's experiencing the rest thatwe all deeply desire.
That's what faith is.
Faith is a coming home becauseit seeks a homeland, a place
(12:45):
where we'll finally be at rest.
The text says that faith desiresa better country that is a
heavenly one.
Now here, listen, there's anaccusation that flies around
this topic, and it's usuallysomething like this you are so
heavenly minded that you're ofno earthly good.
You know, it's a fine saying,but the only problem with it is
reality.
This is the way CS Lewis putsit.
If you read history, you willfind that the Christians who did
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most for the present world werejust those who thought most of
the next.
All who left their mark onearth did so precisely because
their minds were occupied withheaven.
It is since Christians havelargely ceased to think of the
other world that they havebecome so ineffective in this.
One Aim at heaven and you willget earth thrown in.
(13:30):
Aim at earth and you will getneither.
Wilberforce fought slavery,corrie, ten Boom forgave Nazis.
Nelson Mandela ledpost-apartheid South Africa
beyond vengeance.
Mlk dreamed of justice rootedin heaven.
All of them, they aimed atheaven and they brought change
to earth.
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So, yes, we are seeking abetter country, we desire a new
homeland, that's true.
But that doesn't mean we don'tget to work here and now to see
our father answer the Lord'sprayer on earth as it is in
heaven.
Now to our actual sermon text.
Look with me at verse 32.
And what more shall I say forthis, for time would fail me to
(14:12):
tell of Gideon, barak, samson,jephthah, of David and Samuel
and the prophets.
Now listen.
Hebrews 11 is about to do thisthing, where the preacher speeds
up and goes rapid fire on thiskind of tour to faith, and in
the process.
I wanna do a quick sidebar here, Because if you slow down,
you'll notice somethinginteresting.
Just look at the first four menlisted here Gideon, barak,
(14:36):
samson, jephthah.
If you read the book of Judgesyou'll realize those men all
have significant flaws and manyof them, just straight up, don't
believe God at certain pointsthat really matter.
Like I use the story of Samsonwhen I'm sitting down with like
a 20 something year old guy andhe's digging the chili of some
woman who doesn't believe inJesus and I'm like, listen, I'll
(14:57):
listen to you as you talk abouthow you're missionary dating or
you're gonna flirt to convertor all this stuff.
But after I patiently listenedfor a little bit, I turned to
Judges 14.
I'm like, bro, it doesn't endwell for you.
Samson gets his eyes pluckedout and like a building falls on
him.
Is that what you want?
I know she's a honey namedDelilah, but it doesn't go well.
I use Samson as an example ofhow not to live.
(15:20):
What is he doing in the hall offaith?
Like you got to ask thatquestion.
Sure, all believers sin.
But these are some significantdisqualifying character flaws in
this text, in these people'slives.
But faith feeds on theknowledge that God is a better
storyteller.
There's a psychologist named DanMcAdams who created something
(15:43):
called narrative identity theory.
This is it in a nutshell whoyou are.
Your identity is wrapped up inthe stories you tell about
yourself.
And listen, there's only twostories really.
He sums it up.
He says really only two storiesyou can tell about yourself.
He calls them redemptionstories and contamination
stories.
He's not a Christian, as far asI know.
(16:04):
Redemption stories go from badto good.
Contamination stories go fromgood to bad Two stories you can
tell about yourself.
That defines who you are, maybemore than anything else, is
that story.
So when we get to some of thesepeople in Hebrews 11, who've
done some messed up things likedeception and cowardice and
sexual sin and murder andpolygamy, even unbelief, what do
(16:29):
we do with this?
Well, listen, that's not thestory that God tells about their
life, nor is it the story hetells about your life.
There's some lies that you canbelieve in about your identity,
but two of them are this I amnothing more than my worst
moment.
Another one would be I'mnothing better than my.
I'm nothing more than my worstmoment.
Another one would be I'mnothing better than my.
I'm nothing worse than my bestmoment.
These lies about our identitycan be actually upended if we,
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by faith, let God tell adifferent story about our life.
Verse two says it like this byfaith, the people of old
received their commendation, notcondemnation, commendation.
God speaks well of them.
Why?
Because they earned it, becausethey did enough to offset the
scales kind of in their favor,because they finally kind of
(17:16):
outweighed their bad with theirgood.
No, because they trusted God.
They trusted God, and faithfeeds on the knowledge of a God
who can justify the ungodly.
That's why they're in thisstory.
And God justifies the ungodly,not by ignoring sin, but by
writing your life into the storyof his son.
You see, jesus's story wentfrom good to bad, so that yours
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could go from bad to good.
Jesus's life has enoughredemption in it to swallow up
the contamination of your life.
That's why God can speak aboutthese people.
That's how grace works.
And then faith just simply layshold on that grace.
Matthew Henry said it like thisthe grace of God fixes upon the
undeserving to do great thingsfor them and by them.
(18:04):
What a difference between God'sjudgment and man's judgment
Sidebar over, believe it or not.
That was all just a littleexcursus.
Look at verse 33 with me.
Verse 33 says this, and I wantyou to feel this.
There's something rhetoricalhappening in this text who,
through faith, conqueredkingdoms, enforced justice,
(18:25):
obtained promises, stopped themouths of lions, quenched the
power of fire, escaped the edgeof the sword, were made strong
out of weakness, became mightyin war, put foreign armies to
flight.
Some were tortured, refusing toaccept release so they might
rise again to a better life.
Others suffered mocking andflogging and even chains and
(18:47):
imprisonment.
Do you feel this?
Do you feel this shift?
Verse 37 says they were stoned.
Some of you are like thatdoesn't sound so bad.
It's not what you think.
It means they were stoned.
They were sawn in two.
They were killed with the sword.
They went about in skins ofsheep and goats, destitute,
afflicted, mistreated, of whomthe world was not worthy,
wandering about in deserts andmountains and in dens and caves
(19:11):
of the earth.
Do you see those halves?
Do you see those halves?
Do you see what happened there?
You see the first part of this.
There's nine verbs ofvictorious faith where all they
do is win.
But then there's a transitionin verse 35 where it says some,
and in verse 36 where it saysothers.
You see the first half, verses32 through 34,.
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It's about faith for death tolife.
But the second half verses 34through 38, is about faith for
life to death.
You need faith for both, and sohere's the question I ask when
I read this text what do I dowhen I'm not sure which
testimony I'm gonna have?
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What do I do when?
Will I be the one who escapesthe sword verse 34, or is killed
by the sword verse 37?
Which story of faith is gonnabe recorded on my life?
How do we handle this?
You see, faith feeds on thefaithfulness of God.
That's how we handle it, and weget a hint from one of these
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stories in particular, where itsays that faith quenched the
power of fire in verse 34.
And many of you kids know thisstory.
This is the story of in Danielthree, where Nebuchadnezzar, the
most mighty emperor in theworld at the time, demands
worship at the point of deathand Shadrach, meshach and
Abednego who, by the way, werelikely teenagers, probably 14 to
(20:41):
17 years old.
That's actually reallyimportant.
They look at Nebuchadnezzar andthey say no, that's it.
So Nebuchadnezzar orders thatthe furnace be as hot as his
fury and then to have thesethree teenagers thrown into it,
and they don't flinch for amoment.
In fact, there's this momentwhere they look at him and they
say okay, Nebby, listen, that'snot what it says, that's my
version of it.
Okay, nebby, listen, we don'tneed to defend ourselves to you
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If you throw us in.
Our God, we serve, is able todeliver us, and he will deliver
us from your hand, oh king.
Then these next three words butif not, but if not, let it be
known to you, o King we stillwon't serve your gods or worship
the image you set up.
Do you hear that confidence inthe faithfulness of God, our God
(21:25):
, will deliver us from thisfiery furnace.
But if not, we still haveconfidence in who he is.
We're not gonna worship someidol, some man, some emperor.
There's a clue there for us.
Don't you want your teenagersto be able to stand up to
tyrants like that?
Student community meets tonightat 6 pm at the New City offices.
(21:48):
Six-week series called Teens vsTyrants how to have Punk Rock
Faith, something like that.
None of that's true, but I wishit was.
They do meet tonight at 6 pm.
Listen, shadrach, meshach andAbednego were 14 years old.
They're thrown into the fire,and the fire was so hot that it
killed the men who threw them in.
(22:08):
And suddenly Nebuchadnezzarjumps to his feet.
He looks and he's astonished atwhat he sees and he says wait a
minute.
Didn't we throw three young menthat are bound up?
Didn't we throw three men intothe fire?
They say, of course, king.
He says but I see four men,unbound, walking around in the
fire, unharmed, and the fourthlooks like a son of the gods.
(22:31):
You see, what happened in thismoment is they didn't have a
specific promise of rescue.
God didn't promise to deliverthem from this fire, but God
promised to be God to them, tobe faithful to them, to meet
them where they are, to be withthem in the fire.
And they had confidence,because faith feeds on the
faithfulness of God.
Verse 38 says says this and allof these, though commended
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through their faith, did notreceive what was promised, since
God had provided somethingbetter for us, that, apart from
us, they should not be madeperfect.
You see Hebrews 11, it is ahall of faith, but it's also a
character reference for God.
The whole story, the pattern ofHebrews 11, is that God gives a
promise, people hold fast tothat promise and then God
(23:18):
delivers on that promise.
But sometimes you don't have apromise, like there's no promise
that you won't remain singleyour whole life.
There's no promise that yourkids won't suffer.
There's no promise that youwon't get an unexpected
diagnosis this week.
So what do we do?
Well, faith has to learn tofeed on the faithfulness of God.
(23:41):
We trust, like verse 40, thatGod has provided something
better for us.
We, like Sarah, consider himfaithful.
Who promised verse 11.
Like Abraham, we believe Godcould even raise the dead verse
19.
Like Moses, we endure as seeinghim who is invisible.
I had a friend who texted methis week and asked to pray for
(24:04):
him because he was going in fora biopsy that was potentially
cancerous.
And after he went in, he textedme and he said my father knows
what they're going to find andhe is good and trustworthy and
is working out a plan aboutwhich I am on a need to know
basis.
That's faith.
That's faith that feeds on thefaithfulness of God.
Even when you don't have apromise for your circumstance,
(24:27):
faith looks to God to comethrough somehow some way,
because we know who God is.
We know this God some way.
Because we know who God is, weknow this God.
We have an awareness that Godhasn't promised safety and
security or pleasure and peace.
But God has promised himself,and when we cannot trace his
hand, we can trust his heart.
And so we believe, even when ithurts like hell.
(24:51):
Verse 40, god has providedsomething better for us.
What is that something better?
Well, that's something better.
Throughout the entire book ofHebrews up to this point is
Jesus, it's Jesus, and it'severything that's found in Jesus
.
It's his faithful life, it'shis victorious resurrection,
it's his willing death on ourbehalf.
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It's his joyful presence foreternity.
This something better is asinless, painless existence,
forever in the presence of ourking, not some disembodied
spiritual existence where wefloat around, but one where we
dance and we march and we hugand we embrace and we eat and we
drink in the kingdom of God andall of our deepest longings are
fulfilled and all of ourgreatest sorrows are swallowed
(25:34):
up.
What could be better than that?
And that's what we're in for,and nothing less, because God
has provided something betterfor us.
Let's pray, jesus, we pausebefore you.
Now, here we are, your people,those who have laid hold of you
by faith.
Be the one you've promised tobe.
(25:55):
We trust you, we look to you.
Holy Spirit, I'm asking thatyou would grow faith, strengthen
faith, create faith, even insome of our hearts.
Give us eyes to see, not oursurroundings or our
circumstances, but to see you.
By faith, we wanna endure asseeing him who is invisible.
(26:16):
Help us, lord.
We can't do this on our own.
It's for your beautiful name wepray amen.
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damein.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, Orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Good morning.
Joshua Esquivel (00:23):
Please join me, God of mercy.
The covenant promises in youreternal word do not change.
Holy Spirit, enable us torespond to your gracious
promises with faithful andobedient hearts Through Jesus
Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
(00:43):
Our scripture today comes fromHebrews 11, 1 through 3, 32 to
the 40.
Now, faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen, for by itthe people of old received their
commendation.
By faith, we understand that theuniverse was created by the
(01:05):
word of God, so that what isseen was not made out of things
that are visible.
And what more shall I say Fortime would fail me to tell of
Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthahand David and Samuel and the
prophets who, through faith,conquered kingdoms, enforced
(01:28):
justice, obtained promises,stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the power of fire,escaped the edge of the sword,
were made strong out of aweakness, became mighty in war,
put foreign armies to flight.
Women received back their deadby resurrection.
Some were tortured, refusing toaccept release so that they
(01:52):
might rise again to a betterlife.
Others suffered mocking andflogging and even chains and
imprisonment.
They were stoned, they weresawn in two, they were killed
with the sword.
They went about in skins ofsheep and goats, destitute,
afflicted, mistreated, of whomthe world was not worthy,
(02:16):
wandering about in deserts andmountains and in dens and caves
of the earth.
And all these, though, come inthrough their faith, did not
receive what was promised, sinceGod had provided something
better for us that, apart fromus, they should not be made
perfect.
This is God's word.
Benjamin Kandt (02:36):
Thanks be to God , you may be seated.
General Charles Gordon was alegendary British commander in
the 19th century.
Winston Churchill described himlike this said he is a man
careless alike of the frowns ofmen or the smiles of women, of
(02:58):
life or comfort, wealth or fame.
How was he so free from thefear of man?
Well, there's this storyactually Once he was on a
peacemaking mission and GeneralGordon was held prisoner by the
King of Abyssinia and the Kingsaid to him like this do you
know, gordon, that I could killyou on the spot if I liked?
To which Gordon replied I'mperfectly well aware of it.
(03:21):
Your majesty, do so at once.
If it is your royal pleasure, Iam ready.
The king said wait, ready to bekilled?
He said certainly, I'm alwaysready to die.
Then my power has no terrorsfor you.
Gordon replied none whatsoever.
And the king left the roomamazed how did he have freedom
(03:42):
from the fear of death?
After Gordon's death during thesiege of Khartoum, his friend
John Bonar wrote about him andsaid this what always struck me
was the way in which Gordon'soneness with God ruled all his
actions.
I love that language.
Gordon's oneness with God ruledall his actions and his mode of
seeing things.
I never knew one who seemed somuch to endure as seeing him who
(04:05):
is invisible.
That's how.
That's how he did it and that'sa direct quote, actually, from
Hebrews 11, 27, our text.
This morning and last week wesaw that the object of our faith
is far more important than thestrength of our faith.
But this week I want to seethat the strength of our faith
does matter.
I quoted DL Moody last weeksaying that a little faith will
(04:27):
bring your soul to heaven, but alot of faith will bring heaven
to your soul.
So how do we do that?
How do we get heaven in oursoul?
How do we strengthen our faith?
That's the question I'm reallyasking, and I've got one point
which is the answer, which isthat faith feeds on the
knowledge of God.
Faith that faith feeds on theknowledge of God.
Faith feeds on the knowledge ofGod If you walk away with one
thing.
That's what I want you to have.
(04:47):
Faith feeds on the knowledge ofGod.
If you have a Bible or a device,go ahead and open to Hebrews 11
.
You have the worship guide.
It's here as well, but I'mgonna go back a little bit into
the text so we can look at thewhole scope of this chapter.
In Hebrews 11, verse 32, itsays this and what more shall I
say?
I'm gonna pause there.
(05:09):
Hebrews was likely a sermon thatwas written down.
That's what I think it was.
And so this is a preacher andhe's like, hey, what more shall
I say?
And he's about to go on andrecap everything he's been
saying.
But up to this point the authorhas spent verses three through
31 proving his point that faithis this conviction, this
insurance of the things hopedfor and the conviction of things
(05:29):
not yet seen.
So he spent the whole chaptertrying to prove that, to show
that, and in order to do that,he shows it from the lives of
Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham,Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
Moses and Rahab, and how theywere all commended for this
faith.
(05:51):
Faith shows up in this chapter24 times in the Greek text, and
so faith is clearly thissignificant piece, and I want to
just kind of backtrack a littlebit in the passage and do a
flyover of this, what's beencalled the hall of faith.
Look with me at verse 11.
I'm sorry, hebrews 11, verseeight.
It says this by faith, abrahamobeyed when he was called to go
out to a place that he was toreceive as an inheritance and he
went out not knowing where hewas going.
(06:13):
You see, faith requires risk.
Abraham left everything behindat the call of God.
That's what happens in thistext here.
And so listen, if you wantadventure, faith will invite you
to live on the redemptive edge.
If what you're after isexcitement and adventure in life
, live by faith, you'll get it.
I promise you that.
(06:33):
Andy Crouch says that whathappens is that people have to
risk a lot to be successful inbusiness, but once they get
successful, they're tempted tode-risk.
But once they get successful,they're tempted to de-risk.
And he actually says that thatmakes sense.
But really, if you wannasacrificially bless others, you
actually have to re-risk.
You've gotta sign up again torisk in a new way.
(06:56):
Why would you do that?
Why would anybody re-risk?
Because by faith we know thatGod brings creative restoration
through sacrifice.
You see, in this situation,abraham was about 75 years old.
He's about to sail off into hissunset years.
He's probably going to retireand get a place on the coast of
the Gulf of America and as he'sdoing that, rather than de-risk,
(07:21):
he risks everything at the callof God, everything at the call
of God, everything.
At the call of God, he went outnot knowing where he was going
and he became the father offaith.
The text goes on.
I'm sorry, paul the apostle, inanother passage in Romans 4, he
talks about Abraham and this iswhat he says about him.
He says no unbelief made himwaver concerning the promise of
(07:43):
God.
To which I reply, paul, haveyou read about Ishmael?
You know that guy Hagar Seemslike there was some wavering
here.
We'll get to that in a moment.
No unbelief made him waverconcerning the promise of God,
but he grew strong in his faithas he gave glory to God, fully
convinced that God was able todo what he had promised.
You see, faith feeds on theknowledge of God.
(08:04):
So how do we grow strong in ourfaith?
According to this passage, wegive glory to God.
That's how we do it.
Now I want to break that down alittle bit.
If faith feeds on the knowledgeof God, praise and thanks,
acknowledge God for who he isand what he's done.
That's what I think this is so.
Said differently to acknowledgesomething is to show one's
knowledge of it.
That's what I think this is so.
Said differently to acknowledgesomething is to show one's
(08:26):
knowledge of it.
That's what that means, and Iwanna just submit to you that we
believe little because wepraise little.
Our trust is low because ourthanks is low.
But what Abraham's life showsus is that as we receive the
knowledge of God who he is andwhat he does and as we respond
to that knowledge by givingpraise to God for who he is and
(08:47):
thanks to God for what he does,faith grows, it's strengthened.
That's what just happened herein the first half of this
worship service.
I love sitting in the frontbecause I can hear you all.
I can hear your voices.
This is the voice, this is thesound of those who love you.
Right, and I can hear that.
And faith grows, it strengthensthat way.
(09:07):
And so as we give glory to God,fully convinced that he's able
to do what he said he can do,our faith is strengthened, it
grows in that regard.
But it's not always a successstory.
Look at Hebrews 11, 13.
It says this Look at Hebrews 11, 13.
It says this these all now thisis referring to Abraham, sarah,
isaac, jacob these all died infaith.
(09:30):
Not having received the thingspromised, these all died.
Is this a tragedy?
No, but it is biblical realism,and that matters, because, no
matter how good your life gets,you will not receive the full
benefits of your faith here andnow.
There was a book that was on theNew York Times bestselling list
for a couple years, called yourBest Life Now, and here's the
(09:54):
thing if you have your best lifenow, that implies you're going
to hell.
That's a big deal, okay, and sowhat that means, though, is
that, if you belong to Jesus,the best is yet to come.
You haven't fully realized allthat God has in store for you
yet, and that's how they act Inverse 13,.
It says they were strangers andexiles on the earth.
(10:15):
Listen, when you become aChristian, when you become a
believer in Jesus and you putyour faith in him, you become a
stranger and an exile on earth.
The world doesn't know youanymore.
It doesn't think like you, actlike you value the things that
you value anymore, so you becomea stranger and an exile here.
This is why, listen, faithoften feels like homesickness,
(10:39):
like you know.
You're doing it right if youfeel homesick from time to time.
This is the way CS Lewis said itthe settled happiness and
security which we all desire,god withholds from us, by the
very nature of the world, butjoy and pleasure and merriment
he has scattered abroad.
You see, the security we cravewould teach our hearts to rest
(11:00):
in this world and it would posean obstacle to our return to God
.
Our Father refreshes us on thejourney with some pleasant ends,
but will not encourage us tomistake them for home.
Verse 14 says for people whospeak thus, like CS Lewis just
spoke, people who speak thusmake it clear that they are
(11:20):
seeking a homeland.
If they had been thinking ofthat land from which they had
gone out, then they would haveopportunity to return.
But as it is, they desire abetter country.
That is a heavenly one.
You see, many of us here desirea better country.
Don't you Like?
In your peak moments, you'reaware of how fleeting that
(11:41):
moment really is?
Don't you desire a bettercountry?
In your valley moments, you'reaware of how fleeting that
moment really is?
Don't you desire a bettercountry In your valley moments?
You're aware of how painfulthose moments really are?
Don't you desire a bettercountry?
This is what it says in verse 16.
Therefore, god is not ashamed.
He's not ashamed to be calledtheir God, for he has prepared
for them a city.
You see, faith feels likehomesickness, but it's also a
(12:03):
coming home.
Faith feels like homesickness,but it's also a coming home.
Faith feels like homesickness,but it's a faith that feeds on
the knowledge that God is notashamed to be called our God.
Another way to say that is isthat faith is coming home to a
father who loves you even whenhe's not impressed with you.
That's what faith feels like.
It's this coming home, and homeis this place where we don't
deserve it or earn it.
(12:24):
It's just a place of safety andjoy.
It's a place where, while faithis a risk, it's also a refuge.
It's coming into a safe harbor.
It's experiencing the rest thatwe all deeply desire.
That's what faith is.
Faith is a coming home becauseit seeks a homeland, a place
(12:45):
where we'll finally be at rest.
The text says that faith desiresa better country that is a
heavenly one.
Now here, listen, there's anaccusation that flies around
this topic, and it's usuallysomething like this you are so
heavenly minded that you're ofno earthly good.
You know, it's a fine saying,but the only problem with it is
reality.
This is the way CS Lewis putsit.
If you read history, you willfind that the Christians who did
(13:08):
most for the present world werejust those who thought most of
the next.
All who left their mark onearth did so precisely because
their minds were occupied withheaven.
It is since Christians havelargely ceased to think of the
other world that they havebecome so ineffective in this.
One Aim at heaven and you willget earth thrown in.
(13:30):
Aim at earth and you will getneither.
Wilberforce fought slavery,corrie, ten Boom forgave Nazis.
Nelson Mandela ledpost-apartheid South Africa
beyond vengeance.
Mlk dreamed of justice rootedin heaven.
All of them, they aimed atheaven and they brought change
to earth.
(13:50):
So, yes, we are seeking abetter country, we desire a new
homeland, that's true.
But that doesn't mean we don'tget to work here and now to see
our father answer the Lord'sprayer on earth as it is in
heaven.
Now to our actual sermon text.
Look with me at verse 32.
And what more shall I say forthis, for time would fail me to
(14:12):
tell of Gideon, barak, samson,jephthah, of David and Samuel
and the prophets.
Now listen.
Hebrews 11 is about to do thisthing, where the preacher speeds
up and goes rapid fire on thiskind of tour to faith, and in
the process.
I wanna do a quick sidebar here, Because if you slow down,
you'll notice somethinginteresting.
Just look at the first four menlisted here Gideon, barak,
(14:36):
samson, jephthah.
If you read the book of Judgesyou'll realize those men all
have significant flaws and manyof them, just straight up, don't
believe God at certain pointsthat really matter.
Like I use the story of Samsonwhen I'm sitting down with like
a 20 something year old guy andhe's digging the chili of some
woman who doesn't believe inJesus and I'm like, listen, I'll
(14:57):
listen to you as you talk abouthow you're missionary dating or
you're gonna flirt to convertor all this stuff.
But after I patiently listenedfor a little bit, I turned to
Judges 14.
I'm like, bro, it doesn't endwell for you.
Samson gets his eyes pluckedout and like a building falls on
him.
Is that what you want?
I know she's a honey namedDelilah, but it doesn't go well.
I use Samson as an example ofhow not to live.
(15:20):
What is he doing in the hall offaith?
Like you got to ask thatquestion.
Sure, all believers sin.
But these are some significantdisqualifying character flaws in
this text, in these people'slives.
But faith feeds on theknowledge that God is a better
storyteller.
There's a psychologist named DanMcAdams who created something
(15:43):
called narrative identity theory.
This is it in a nutshell whoyou are.
Your identity is wrapped up inthe stories you tell about
yourself.
And listen, there's only twostories really.
He sums it up.
He says really only two storiesyou can tell about yourself.
He calls them redemptionstories and contamination
stories.
He's not a Christian, as far asI know.
(16:04):
Redemption stories go from badto good.
Contamination stories go fromgood to bad Two stories you can
tell about yourself.
That defines who you are, maybemore than anything else, is
that story.
So when we get to some of thesepeople in Hebrews 11, who've
done some messed up things likedeception and cowardice and
sexual sin and murder andpolygamy, even unbelief, what do
(16:29):
we do with this?
Well, listen, that's not thestory that God tells about their
life, nor is it the story hetells about your life.
There's some lies that you canbelieve in about your identity,
but two of them are this I amnothing more than my worst
moment.
Another one would be I'mnothing better than my.
I'm nothing more than my worstmoment.
Another one would be I'mnothing better than my.
I'm nothing worse than my bestmoment.
These lies about our identitycan be actually upended if we,
(16:53):
by faith, let God tell adifferent story about our life.
Verse two says it like this byfaith, the people of old
received their commendation, notcondemnation, commendation.
God speaks well of them.
Why?
Because they earned it, becausethey did enough to offset the
scales kind of in their favor,because they finally kind of
(17:16):
outweighed their bad with theirgood.
No, because they trusted God.
They trusted God, and faithfeeds on the knowledge of a God
who can justify the ungodly.
That's why they're in thisstory.
And God justifies the ungodly,not by ignoring sin, but by
writing your life into the storyof his son.
You see, jesus's story wentfrom good to bad, so that yours
(17:41):
could go from bad to good.
Jesus's life has enoughredemption in it to swallow up
the contamination of your life.
That's why God can speak aboutthese people.
That's how grace works.
And then faith just simply layshold on that grace.
Matthew Henry said it like thisthe grace of God fixes upon the
undeserving to do great thingsfor them and by them.
(18:04):
What a difference between God'sjudgment and man's judgment
Sidebar over, believe it or not.
That was all just a littleexcursus.
Look at verse 33 with me.
Verse 33 says this, and I wantyou to feel this.
There's something rhetoricalhappening in this text who,
through faith, conqueredkingdoms, enforced justice,
(18:25):
obtained promises, stopped themouths of lions, quenched the
power of fire, escaped the edgeof the sword, were made strong
out of weakness, became mightyin war, put foreign armies to
flight.
Some were tortured, refusing toaccept release so they might
rise again to a better life.
Others suffered mocking andflogging and even chains and
(18:47):
imprisonment.
Do you feel this?
Do you feel this shift?
Verse 37 says they were stoned.
Some of you are like thatdoesn't sound so bad.
It's not what you think.
It means they were stoned.
They were sawn in two.
They were killed with the sword.
They went about in skins ofsheep and goats, destitute,
afflicted, mistreated, of whomthe world was not worthy,
wandering about in deserts andmountains and in dens and caves
(19:11):
of the earth.
Do you see those halves?
Do you see those halves?
Do you see what happened there?
You see the first part of this.
There's nine verbs ofvictorious faith where all they
do is win.
But then there's a transitionin verse 35 where it says some,
and in verse 36 where it saysothers.
You see the first half, verses32 through 34,.
(19:33):
It's about faith for death tolife.
But the second half verses 34through 38, is about faith for
life to death.
You need faith for both, and sohere's the question I ask when
I read this text what do I dowhen I'm not sure which
testimony I'm gonna have?
(19:53):
What do I do when?
Will I be the one who escapesthe sword verse 34, or is killed
by the sword verse 37?
Which story of faith is gonnabe recorded on my life?
How do we handle this?
You see, faith feeds on thefaithfulness of God.
That's how we handle it, and weget a hint from one of these
(20:20):
stories in particular, where itsays that faith quenched the
power of fire in verse 34.
And many of you kids know thisstory.
This is the story of in Danielthree, where Nebuchadnezzar, the
most mighty emperor in theworld at the time, demands
worship at the point of deathand Shadrach, meshach and
Abednego who, by the way, werelikely teenagers, probably 14 to
(20:41):
17 years old.
That's actually reallyimportant.
They look at Nebuchadnezzar andthey say no, that's it.
So Nebuchadnezzar orders thatthe furnace be as hot as his
fury and then to have thesethree teenagers thrown into it,
and they don't flinch for amoment.
In fact, there's this momentwhere they look at him and they
say okay, Nebby, listen, that'snot what it says, that's my
version of it.
Okay, nebby, listen, we don'tneed to defend ourselves to you
(21:03):
If you throw us in.
Our God, we serve, is able todeliver us, and he will deliver
us from your hand, oh king.
Then these next three words butif not, but if not, let it be
known to you, o King we stillwon't serve your gods or worship
the image you set up.
Do you hear that confidence inthe faithfulness of God, our God
(21:25):
, will deliver us from thisfiery furnace.
But if not, we still haveconfidence in who he is.
We're not gonna worship someidol, some man, some emperor.
There's a clue there for us.
Don't you want your teenagersto be able to stand up to
tyrants like that?
Student community meets tonightat 6 pm at the New City offices.
(21:48):
Six-week series called Teens vsTyrants how to have Punk Rock
Faith, something like that.
None of that's true, but I wishit was.
They do meet tonight at 6 pm.
Listen, shadrach, meshach andAbednego were 14 years old.
They're thrown into the fire,and the fire was so hot that it
killed the men who threw them in.
(22:08):
And suddenly Nebuchadnezzarjumps to his feet.
He looks and he's astonished atwhat he sees and he says wait a
minute.
Didn't we throw three young menthat are bound up?
Didn't we throw three men intothe fire?
They say, of course, king.
He says but I see four men,unbound, walking around in the
fire, unharmed, and the fourthlooks like a son of the gods.
(22:31):
You see, what happened in thismoment is they didn't have a
specific promise of rescue.
God didn't promise to deliverthem from this fire, but God
promised to be God to them, tobe faithful to them, to meet
them where they are, to be withthem in the fire.
And they had confidence,because faith feeds on the
faithfulness of God.
Verse 38 says says this and allof these, though commended
(22:55):
through their faith, did notreceive what was promised, since
God had provided somethingbetter for us, that, apart from
us, they should not be madeperfect.
You see Hebrews 11, it is ahall of faith, but it's also a
character reference for God.
The whole story, the pattern ofHebrews 11, is that God gives a
promise, people hold fast tothat promise and then God
(23:18):
delivers on that promise.
But sometimes you don't have apromise, like there's no promise
that you won't remain singleyour whole life.
There's no promise that yourkids won't suffer.
There's no promise that youwon't get an unexpected
diagnosis this week.
So what do we do?
Well, faith has to learn tofeed on the faithfulness of God.
(23:41):
We trust, like verse 40, thatGod has provided something
better for us.
We, like Sarah, consider himfaithful.
Who promised verse 11.
Like Abraham, we believe Godcould even raise the dead verse
19.
Like Moses, we endure as seeinghim who is invisible.
I had a friend who texted methis week and asked to pray for
(24:04):
him because he was going in fora biopsy that was potentially
cancerous.
And after he went in, he textedme and he said my father knows
what they're going to find andhe is good and trustworthy and
is working out a plan aboutwhich I am on a need to know
basis.
That's faith.
That's faith that feeds on thefaithfulness of God.
Even when you don't have apromise for your circumstance,
(24:27):
faith looks to God to comethrough somehow some way,
because we know who God is.
We know this God some way.
Because we know who God is, weknow this God.
We have an awareness that Godhasn't promised safety and
security or pleasure and peace.
But God has promised himself,and when we cannot trace his
hand, we can trust his heart.
And so we believe, even when ithurts like hell.
(24:51):
Verse 40, god has providedsomething better for us.
What is that something better?
Well, that's something better.
Throughout the entire book ofHebrews up to this point is
Jesus, it's Jesus, and it'severything that's found in Jesus
.
It's his faithful life, it'shis victorious resurrection,
it's his willing death on ourbehalf.
(25:11):
It's his joyful presence foreternity.
This something better is asinless, painless existence,
forever in the presence of ourking, not some disembodied
spiritual existence where wefloat around, but one where we
dance and we march and we hugand we embrace and we eat and we
drink in the kingdom of God andall of our deepest longings are
fulfilled and all of ourgreatest sorrows are swallowed
(25:34):
up.
What could be better than that?
And that's what we're in for,and nothing less, because God
has provided something betterfor us.
Let's pray, jesus, we pausebefore you.
Now, here we are, your people,those who have laid hold of you
by faith.
Be the one you've promised tobe.
(25:55):
We trust you, we look to you.
Holy Spirit, I'm asking thatyou would grow faith, strengthen
faith, create faith, even insome of our hearts.
Give us eyes to see, not oursurroundings or our
circumstances, but to see you.
By faith, we wanna endure asseeing him who is invisible.
(26:16):
Help us, lord.
We can't do this on our own.
It's for your beautiful name wepray amen.
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